Using the Tarot for Creativity and Empowerment

The Artists Way & Tarot: The 10 Basic Principles

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“When I open my eyes in the morning, I am not confronted by the world, but by a million possible worlds.” ~ Colin Wilson

Today, we examine Julia’s “Basic Principles” which she says are the bedrock of which creative recovery and discovery can be built. She suggests that you read through them once a day and make note of any shifts in your attitudes or your beliefs.

As I mentioned yesterday, she does tend to use the word God from time to time in her work. Again, if that bothers you substitute God with Great Spirit, Goddess, Higher Self, Creative Flow, The Great Pumpkin or whatever resonates with you.

That being said, she does consider this course to be a spiritual journey and as such, adheres to the premise that the Creator encourages creativity. She states in this introductory section that our goal is to forge a creative alliance, artist–to–artist with the Great Creator – and accepting this concept can greatly expand our creative possibilities. I love the way she phrases it in this chapter:

Creativity is an experience – to my eye, a spiritual experience. It does not matter which way you think of it: creativity leading to spirituality or spirituality leading to creativity. In fact I do not make a distinction between the two. In the face of such experience, the whole question of belief is rendered obsolete.

It might be necessary at this time, to define what spirituality is, for many people tend to confuse spirituality with religion. In fact, spirituality is not even necessarily affiliated with any religion. I personally define spirituality as an inner path that allows us to discover who we are – to discover our innermost being. It is a journey of self discovery and of reaching beyond your limits. It provides meaning and purpose to our lives and though it is often a personal journey, it also leads to a deeper connection with others and the world around you. In this manner, it is not surprising that I consider tarot a spiritual path.

So in thinking about this course, our path is to discover or rediscover our creative purpose and in doing so, to find your passions. In order to accomplish this, you will need to connect to the world around you – and connect to the divine source, what ever you may envision that to be.

Again, spirituality is a personal concept and no doubt many will see it differently than I. What’s important here, is that this course is considered a spiritual journey and as such, we will seek to better ourselves in the process.

So without further ado, below are Julia’s basic principles. There are some powerful ideas here. Spend some time with them and let them percolate.

Basic Principles

Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy.

There is an underlying, in–dwelling creative force infusing all life – including ourselves.

When we open ourselves to our creativity, the open ourselves to the creator’s creativity within us and our lives.

We are, ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.

Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift to back to God.

The refusal to be creative is self–will and is counter to our true nature.

We open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves to God: good orderly direction.

As we open our creative channel to the creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.

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